In general, a franking machine is equipped with a meter which accumulates the total value of franking operations performed since the machine was put into service, together with a few additional meters to enable the user to account for postage expenses better, for example to enable said postage expenses to be spread over a plurality of budgets. Over a given period of time, these additional meters made available to the user serve to accumulate the total number and/or the total value of franking operations performed. In order to take advantage of the additional meters, it is necessary for the user to be able to name, start, stop, clear, and display each meter individually.
This done by means of the keyboard of the franking machine, by fitting the keyboard with additional keys or by authorizing two or three keys of the keyboard to be depressed simultaneously. This technique can only be envisaged when there are very few additional meters, e.g. only two or three. For a larger number of additional meters, it becomes necessary either to use a considerable number of additional keys, or else to generalize the technique of double or triple key-presses; however if that is done it becomes necessary to provide the machine with a code table and the user needs to refer to this table each time a specific additional meter is to be selected.
If it is desired to stop, clear, or individually request each additional meter, additional keys need to be provided and the keyboard becomes difficult to use, inconvenient, confusing for the user, and necessitating a degree of user training.
French patent application No. 87 02 667 filed Feb. 28, 1987 and entitled "Operating system for an electronic franking machine", describes a franking machine equipped with a plurality of auxiliary meters, e.g. about a score of them, together with a keyboard including a menu key in addition to digit keys. Such a machine can be used both for performing normal franking operations and also for performing special operations by means of the menu key, in particular special operations consisting in selecting an auxiliary meter and in starting it, stopping it, or clearing it. Each auxiliary meter is constituted by a pair of meters, i.e. a money meter which provides the total value of franking operations performed during a given period of time, and a piece count meter which provides the total number of envelopes or labels which have been franked during said period of time. Each auxiliary meter is designated by a number which corresponds to the location occupied by said meter in a an auxiliary meter memory space which is set aside, for example in a battery-backed working memory.
The user must therefore remember the meaning of each meter number, or else maintain an identification list in order to be able to identify meters by their numbers.
If there are only a few meters, the user can readily remember the meaning of each meter number, but even for a score of meters the user tends, in general, to make use of a list, and when the number of additional meters becomes larger, e.g. several tens of meters, then a list becomes practically essential.
Consulting such an identification list, and keeping it up to date as various budgets are created or closed gives rise to a loss of time and is often a source of error.
The object of the invention is to remedy these drawbacks and to enable a meter to be selected without it being necessary to refer to an identification list.